Thursday, August 06, 2015

Iraq snapshot

Thursday, August 6, 2015. Chaos and violence continue, 7 US troops have died in Barack's year-long actions against the Islamic State in Iraq, Iraq is a big topic in today's GOP Presidential debate, and more.

Today, Fox News hosted the Republican Party's presidential nominees debate from Cleveland (Facebook partnered with Fox News for the debate). The top ten contenders for the party's 2016 presidential nomination gathered on stage.

Those ten made it onto the stage. They are not the only candidates competing for the Republican party's nomination. Fox News also noted:

But former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and several others will not be on the prime-time, 9 p.m. ET stage. The seven who did not make the top 10 will be invited to a separate 5 p.m. ET debate. Aside from Perry and Santorum, this includes Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; former HP head Carly Fiorina; South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham; former New York Gov. George Pataki; and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore.

Baltimore Sun media critic (and National Press Club award winner this year, Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism-print) David Zurawik critiqued the debate in terms of, among other things, the performance of the moderators and offered:

Kelly versus Trump was a matchup many tuned in to see. Kelly’s persona
is built in part on her ability to take down self-important, sexist,
windbag men. Trump is all three of those things and then some.“Mr. Trump,” Kelly said, “you’ve called women you don’t like fat
pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals. Your Twitter account …”“Only Rosie O’Donnell,” he said interrupting Kelly.“No, it wasn’t,” Kelly said as the audience applauded and whistled at Trump’s line. Once
the applause died down, Kelly, sounding like an attorney on cross
examination, resumed by saying, “For the record, it went well beyond
Rosie O’Donnell.”“Yes, I’m sure it did,” Trump said dismissively.

“Your
Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women. You once
told a contestant on ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ it would be a pretty
picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the
temperament of someone we should elect as president?”

Iraq came up frequently during the debate and some of the remarks received actual media attention.

Some.

Ben Brody (Bloomberg News) notes: Senator Lindsey Graham maintained that the answer for Iraq was to send US troops into Iraq (and into Syria) to defeat the Islamic State and that he did not believe there were partners in the region who could help with this, "These mythical Arab armies that my friends talk about that are going to
protect us don't exist. If I am president of the United
States, we're going to send soldiers back to Iraq, back to Syria, to
keep us from being attacked here and keep soldiers in Afghanistan
because we must."

For any questioning where Graham stands on the issue, The Daily Caller offers video from the debate of Graham insisting, "We need more ground forces in Iraq."

Lauren Barbato (Bustle) notes that Jeb "Bush called the Iraq War a mistake" and stated, "I wouldn't have gone
in." This was in direct contrast to his spring remarks that he would have done the same thing his brother did. After making those remarks -- red meat to Republicans who would be voting in the primaries -- he came under intense criticism and the campaign attempted to have surrogates attempt the what-he-meant-was before he finally disowned his earlier statements.

Barbato feels he was making "a calculated" response today in an attempt to appeal to Americans. He may have been. Or he may have just been trying to avoid a media beating.

A little over half of Americans feel the Iraq War was a mistake. That's in the general population. That number drops when you are polling adults who identify themselves as Republicans.

"In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq
because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. I am the only one
on this stage who knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's
exactly what happened. The region became totally destabliized.

Of course, the Iraq invasion began on March 19, 2003
— more than a year before the denunciation Trump is bragging about.
That's still earlier than most of his fellow GOP candidates, but it's a
bit much to brag about one's "vision" in saying that something was going
to be a disaster after it had already happened.

From the debate, we'll note the following exchanges on Iraq:BAIER: Senator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of ISIS on
Republican hawks. You later said that that statement, you could have
said it better. But, the statement went on, and you said, quote,
"Everything they've talked about in foreign policy, they've been wrong
for the last 20 years."Why are you so quick to blame your own party?PAUL:
First of all, only ISIS is responsible for the terrorism. Only ISIS is
responsible for the depravity. But, we do have to examine, how are we
going to defeat ISIS?I've got a proposal. I'm the leading voice in America for not arming the allies of ISIS.(APPLAUSE)PAUL:
I've been fighting amidst a lot of opposition from both Hillary
Clinton, as well as some Republicans who wanted to send arms to the
allies of ISIS.ISIS rides around in a billion dollars worth of U.S. Humvees. It's a disgrace. We've got to stop -- we shouldn't fund our enemies, for goodness sakes.

PAUL:
So, we didn't create ISIS -- ISIS created themselves, but we will stop
them, and one of the ways we stop them is by not funding them, and not
arming them.[. . .]KELLY: Well, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to
you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His
name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question:(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)QUESTION:
My question is, how would the candidates stop the treacherous actions
of ISIS -- ISIL and its growing influence in the U.S., if they were to
become president?(END VIDEO CLIP) KELLY: Senator Cruz, I wanna
talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and --
the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to ISIS
tonight.You asked the chairman of the joint chiefs a question:
"What would it take to destroy ISIS in 90 days?" He told you "IISIS will
only be truly destroyed once they are rejected by the populations in
which they hide." And then you accused him of pushing Medicaid for the
Iraqis.How would you destroy ISIS in 90 days?CRUZ:
Megyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not
defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president
unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism".(APPLAUSE)When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy ISIS, he said there is no military solution. We need to change the conditions on the ground so that young men are not in poverty and susceptible to radicalization. That, with all due respect, is nonsense.It's
the same answer the State Department gave that we need to give them
jobs. What we need is a commander in chief that makes -- clear, if you join ISIS, if you wage jihad on America, then you are signing your death warrant.KELLY: You don't see it as...(APPLAUSE)KELLY: ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one?(APPLAUSE)CRUZ:
Megyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons
I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any
American travels to the Middle East and joining ISIS, that he or she
forfeits their citizenship so they don't use a passport to come back and
wage jihad on Americans.(APPLAUSE)CRUZ: Yes, it is
ideological, and let me contrast President Obama, who at the prayer
breakfast, essentially acted as an apologist. He said, "Well, gosh, the crusades, the inquisitions--"We
need a president that shows the courage that Egypt's President al-Sisi,
a Muslim, when he called out the radical Islamic terrorists who are
threatening the world.(APPLAUSE)KELLY:
Governor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to
answer a question about whether knowing what we know now...BUSH: ...I remember...KELLY: ...we would've invaded Iraq...BUSH: ...I remember, Megyn.(LAUGHTER)KELLY: I remember it too, and ISIS, of course, is now thriving there.You finally said, "No."To
the families of those who died in that war who say they liberated and
deposed a ruthless dictator, how do you look at them now and say that
your brothers war was a mistake?BUSH: Knowing
what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be
the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't
have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and
the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because
as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every
one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them,
that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do.And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain.So,
why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the
lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole
subject, Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left,
and when he left Al Qaida was done for. ISIS was created because of the
void that we left, and that void now exists as a caliphate the size of Indiana.To
honor the people that died, we need to -- we need to --- stop the --
Iran agreement, for sure, because the Iranian mullahs have their blood
on their hands, and we need to take out ISIS with every tool at our
disposal.(APPLAUSE)KELLY: Governor Walker, in February
you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab
country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our
greatest partner?WALKER: What about then (ph), we need to focus
on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship
we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important.You
look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi
leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them
what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf.[. . .]KELLY: Well, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to
you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His
name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question:(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)QUESTION:
My question is, how would the candidates stop the treacherous actions
of ISIS -- ISIL and its growing influence in the U.S., if they were to
become president?(END VIDEO CLIP) KELLY: Senator Cruz, I wanna
talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and --
the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to ISIS
tonight.You asked the chairman of the joint chiefs a question:
"What would it take to destroy ISIS in 90 days?" He told you "IISIS will
only be truly destroyed once they are rejected by the populations in
which they hide." And then you accused him of pushing Medicaid for the
Iraqis.How would you destroy ISIS in 90 days?CRUZ:
Megyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not
defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president
unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism".(APPLAUSE)When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy ISIS, he said there is no military solution. We need to change the conditions on the ground so that young men are not in poverty and susceptible to radicalization. That, with all due respect, is nonsense.It's
the same answer the State Department gave that we need to give them
jobs. What we need is a commander in chief that makes -- clear, if you join ISIS, if you wage jihad on America, then you are signing your death warrant.KELLY: You don't see it as...(APPLAUSE)KELLY: ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one?(APPLAUSE)CRUZ:
Megyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons
I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any
American travels to the Middle East and joining ISIS, that he or she
forfeits their citizenship so they don't use a passport to come back and
wage jihad on Americans.(APPLAUSE)CRUZ: Yes, it is
ideological, and let me contrast President Obama, who at the prayer
breakfast, essentially acted as an apologist. He said, "Well, gosh, the crusades, the inquisitions--"We
need a president that shows the courage that Egypt's President al-Sisi,
a Muslim, when he called out the radical Islamic terrorists who are
threatening the world.(APPLAUSE)KELLY:
Governor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to
answer a question about whether knowing what we know now...BUSH: ...I remember...KELLY: ...we would've invaded Iraq...BUSH: ...I remember, Megyn.(LAUGHTER)KELLY: I remember it too, and ISIS, of course, is now thriving there.You finally said, "No."To
the families of those who died in that war who say they liberated and
deposed a ruthless dictator, how do you look at them now and say that
your brothers war was a mistake?BUSH: Knowing
what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be
the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't
have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and
the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because
as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every
one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them,
that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do.And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain.So,
why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the
lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole
subject, Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left,
and when he left Al Qaida was done for. ISIS was created because of the
void that we left, and that void now exists as a caliphate the size of Indiana.To
honor the people that died, we need to -- we need to --- stop the --
Iran agreement, for sure, because the Iranian mullahs have their blood
on their hands, and we need to take out ISIS with every tool at our
disposal.(APPLAUSE)KELLY: Governor Walker, in February
you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab
country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our
greatest partner?WALKER: What about then (ph), we need to focus
on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship
we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important.

You
look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi
leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them
what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf.

Though Iraq came up frequently in the debate, it was a topic ignored by State Dept spokesperson Mark Toner and those attending the State Dept press briefing today.

With US President Barack Obama spending billions on Iraq -- largely just on bombing Iraq -- it's amazing that the State Dept -- or the reporters covering it -- would ignore Iraq.

But ignoring Iraq is how the current crises came about, remember?

I don't have a lot of respect for the Republicans on stage today because they ignored the gross betrayal of the Iraqi people by Barack.

Nouri al-Maliki's second term led to the current problems. We've documented that at length here and done so in real time.

But Nouri didn't win the 2010 election.

And until politicians are ready to point that out, US politicians, and that Barack used a legal contract (The Erbil Agreement) to overturn the votes of the Iraqi people and the Iraqi Constitution, I don't really have a lot of use for them -- and certainly no trust for them.

Supporting Iraqiya was supporting a new Iraq.

Barack chose to strip Iraqiya of its victory and back thug Nouri.

This isn't a minor point.

Nor is Barack's decision to bomb Iraq daily or the year-plus of sending US troops into Iraq minor points.

Leo Shane (Military Times) explains today, "About 3,500 U.S. troops are stationed in Iraq, and seven have lost their
lives in connection to the new military operations there."

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